Re: Soul mirrors/desires

["Martin Cosgrove" <martin@...>]

Dear Rawn,

Thank you for your reply. 

Here are two passages from some material I have been reading lately
concerning the Kabbalah and which prompted me to consider the selfishness of
man and the nature of desires. Have I misinterpreted these thoughts or are
they simply not compatible with the Western Hermetic tradition and
Bardonism? Forgive me posting these fairly lengthy quotations, but I do not
want to distort the intended meaning behind them any further by paraphrasing


Martin

Selected Topics in Kabbalah - Kabbalist Rabbi Michael Laitman from
http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/selected.htm

"Selfishness, which separates our perception from true knowledge, can only
be found in man. This is not the case with the Creator because perfection
and openness define his relation to man. The absence of the Creator is only
felt by a man who dissimulates the worlds from himself, as if he were hiding
behind the veils of his own selfishness. 
The removal of selfishness does not occur all at once. In the beginning, the
Creator grants man periods of time corresponding to lives in this world as
an opportunity to elevate himself spiritually. Man is master of the whole
process. During each of his consecutive lives, man must remove a certain
part of his selfish nature and draw himself closer to the Creator. Man will
repeat a new life as long as he does not correct himself. Correction means
that his desires termed "body" in Kabbalah will no longer form a barrier
between him and the Creator. When this occurs man's attributes will bond him
with the Creator regardless of the world in which man finds himself."


"The 613 desires of the soul are divided into 248 positive desires, through
which man can acquire a "li chema" intention, and 365 negative desires man
cannot use in order to gain a "li chema" intent. The difference between the
two desires has nothing to do with intention. In both cases the intention is
naturally and exclusively "turned toward the Creator". The difference lies
in the power of the desire itself: if the desire is weak it will not awaken
intense pleasure. However, this desire enables one to feel the bond with the
Creator. The pleasure sensed is called the pleasure to give without
restraint. That is to say the desire to please the Creator as it is only
possible to please Him by receiving from him. But since this desire cannot
be felt with sufficient intensity, it cannot truly give to the Creator. This
desire exists only at the level of equivalence of form with the Creator.
All desires born in man are selfish desires. This is the desire to receive
for one?s own pleasure. Only the intention "turned toward the Creator" will
transform it into an altruistic desire. Hence the difference solely lies in
the intent.
That?s what makes Kabbalah so important. It helps us transform our intent. The 
intention "turned toward the Creator" is called "screen" because it prevents 
one from "receiving for oneself" and generates the intention "turned towards 
the Creator"."

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